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Terrible Greatness

EMILIA

V enus was right. As much as I hated to acknowledge that.

Nyx would be disgusted to know I was wallowing around, holding back in duels, hiding from everyone. In her absence, she would expect me to rise up and hold down the fort.

Or…would she? Was I kidding myself by entertaining the idea that she would think so highly of me?

Maybe I was doing exactly what she would expect me to do.

Either way. I couldn’t stand being alone with my own insufferable thoughts anymore.

I tried not to dwell on the fact that Destiny had clearly given up on me, since she’d chosen to leave and get ready in Faye’s room. I sifted through the closet alone, plucking through a hundred different garments.

The starry velvet dress called to me. But I couldn’t wear the same thing as last time.

“I need to go shopping,” I muttered to myself, disappointed with my options.

I ended up choosing a simple black dinner dress with a tight bodice and flowing skirt. Simple, but elegant enough, though not as ethereal as I would have liked.

Destiny and Faye had left already, the airling’s room empty, their mingled perfumes still clinging to the air. Smoky and sweet. I swallowed the stone in my throat, dread closing in on me like storm clouds. The idea of showing up alone made me want to abort the mission and go back to my room, curl up with a book to rot in bed.

No .

I descended the sweeping spiral stairs that led me out of Luna Academy. The sun had just slipped behind the mountains, leaving a burn mark along the horizon. But the twilight hour was darker than usual. Thick, rumbling clouds were closing in.

My pulse sped up as I made my way to the Stone Gardens, completely alone. Everyone had left for dinner already, not even giving me the solace of a general crowd to arrive with. It took a jarring amount of force and determination to keep going. Standing alone had never been my strong suit.

A streak of red caught my eye as I rounded the corner. A gasp slipped out when I found Venus St. Claire. She stood in waiting, leaning against the stone wall beside the door that would portal us to dinner. Scrolling her blackmirror, her stance relaxed. A silken crimson dress encrusted with thousands of silver gems that twinkled under the fairy lights clung to her curvy frame, her toned thigh exposed through the high slit.

Her honey eyes left her blackmirror to rise and lock with mine. The way they lit up when she saw me had my stomach tumbling. “You came.”

I stood, frozen and dumbfounded. “You waited?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Cassi and B said I was mad. But I was betting on you, Little Morningstar.”

I laughed nervously, wondering why my heart was thrashing so erratically. “I wasn’t going to come, but—”

“But you realized I was right and you needed to get out of your own way.” She smirked deviously.

I rolled my eyes. “No.”

“Sure.”

A beat of awkward silence passed.

“Come on.” She held out her arm as if she expected me to link mine with it. When I didn’t move, she snorted, though not bitterly. “I won’t bite, Little Morningstar. Plus, it’ll be fun. How else could you top your little show from last time, if not to arrive arm in arm with me?”

The smile that grew across my lips was foreign.

We emerged into the ethereal dining hall, a blizzard whirling outside the glass. The hall was alive with music and clinking glasses and excited laughter and chatter.

A hundred sets of bright, sparkling eyes locked on us. Mine threatened to drop to the floor, but something about Venus’s body next to mine injected me with confidence.

She led me forward, a smug grin on her crimson lips.

The rows of long, Gothic tables were full of finely dressed starseeds who gaped at us as if we were creatures from another world. I could hear the whispers. Feel the judgments, the jealousy, the confusion.

When I locked eyes with Destiny and Faye, my heart dropped, but I didn’t miss a step.

I gave them a small smile which they didn’t return. Instead, their brows crumpled over their eyes.

I would explain later.

Venus led me to the middle of the middle table. As central as it could get. Cassiopeia and Bianca had saved us a spot, promptly shuffling out of the way so we could sit.

“I do love a grand entrance,” Venus sighed, reaching out to grab the wine glass in front of her, which was already full of blood-red liquid. She nodded to the one in front of me, urging me to follow suit. I did, and we clinked glasses before taking a sip.

She was right. I needed to show them I wasn’t the same girl I was when I first came to Luna Academy.

I’m a Morningstar .

Dangerous, formidable, destined for terrible greatness. And I wasn’t going anywhere.

Dinner commenced. I kept my eyes fastened on Venus or my food, trying to ignore the incessant stares.

I knew the magnetic tug on my cheek was Michael’s attention manifesting as a physical sensation. I looked his way once and found him leaning back in his chair, looking straight at me. No, not looking— glaring . As if he didn’t approve of my new companion.

He just didn’t understand. Like Faye and Destiny—none of them understood what I was really up against. I needed Venus. Her power, her influence.

And in no time at all, it was working. People flocked to us. I could hardly sip my wine, for too many girls had clustered around, showering me with questions and praises. Asking me about my dress, my hair. Wondering about my ‘big three’. It was strange but not in a bad way. I continued to be a woman of few words, letting them salivate over the mystery.

But I could feel it—the reins of the narrative grasped tightly in my hands. As much power as the High Lord or the Luminary had, they were nothing in the face of the truth.

At the tail end of dinner, I rose from my seat, quietly excusing myself.

I needed a moment. I couldn’t remember a time when so many people had talked to me at once.

I strode over to the charmed glass, taking in a sharp breath, wishing I could taste the frigid air outside. The blizzard raged so hard I couldn’t see ten feet ahead. There was no telling how high up we were or what was beyond the temple ruins. Cyclones of snowflakes performed their vivacious dances, twirling chaotically before meeting their fate somewhere beyond my line of sight.

I couldn’t help but think of Nyx. It always snowed on her birthday back home. My sister, the girl made of sun and fire, the walking antithesis of snow. She hated it, too. She would get out of bed to look out the window and groan. I, on the other hand, would be elated. I’d try to convince her to come build a snowman or go sledding or even just stand outside to catch flakes on our tongues. She would decline every offer. She’d stay inside by the fire, looking deep into the flames until the day passed.

Mother never threw her a party.

My heart crashed and burned in my chest as it hit me. Her birthday was this weekend! Holy shit. December 13. And she—

“Emilia.”

My name whispered in the smooth, familiar accent had my train of thought blowing out like a candle in the wind.

My spine stiffened, and my heart instantly raced. The blizzard outside morphed into a mirage of silver and blue. I sucked in a sharp breath through my nose and waited a few seconds before I dared to turn. To face him.

He was so close.

For an instant, I wanted to flee. Turn and dash away without another word, vanishing into the portal.

The High Lord had indirectly threatened his life. Our being close could endanger him. And right now, everyone was looking.

But he bewitched me, and I could not run. Tall and dark, his lip ring between his teeth as those deep brown eyes ate me alive. I couldn’t get over how different he looked. His sharp Veneficus jacket fit him just right. His brown hair remained long enough to hang over his brows, but it didn’t tangle in his lashes like before. The wooden staff at his side was—

“You have a staff?” I blurted, incredulous.

Made of twisted wood, topped with a jagged piece of obsidian that may not have physically pulsed with magic, but I could feel something wafting off of it.

Michael lifted a shoulder. “Academy policy.”

“Oh,” I muttered ineptly.

“Your hair,” he mentioned, eyeing it. “It’s different. Yet it feels like you.”

“Yeah?” My fingers instinctively lifted to touch the short, sharp locks. “It was an impulsive thing. I shock myself every time I look in the mirror now.”

“It suits you.”

I swallowed. “Thanks.”

The storm outside was in my head now. Behind him, the long tables full of people blurred into a colorful but intelligible backdrop.

“I’m sorry I left.” The words tumbled out like vomit. “And that I’ve been avoiding you. I—I just—with Natalia and Nyx gone, everything is—I don’t know. I have no excuse. It was all too much but I shouldn’t have jumped ship. I understand why you never reached out.”

Michael stared at me, his expression unreadable. I couldn’t tell if my testament disgusted him or bored him.

Then, after a tense pause, he shrugged and said, “It’s what you do.”

My lips popped open but no words followed.

He stepped closer. His woodsy scent was now accompanied by something else. Something I couldn’t place while my head was swimming. Heat pooled in my lower stomach while his gaze snared mine. “You’ve always run away. Why would I be especially hurt by that now, Emilia?”

That heat in my belly worsened, climbing up my spine to settle at the back of my neck. “Michael, I—”

“What?” he snapped, his tone making me jump. “Don’t fucking apologize again.”

My heart was about to explode from my chest and make a mess of his jacket. His eyes darkened even more as he leaned down to be closer to my face. With two fingers, he tapped my temple. “And I have reached out to you.”

I gasped as the dreams whirled in my mind. Vague, soft-lit memories. His eyes darted back and forth between mine like he was seeing them too.

His expression turned severe. He remained just inches away. “What are you doing with that girl? She’s Nyx’s enemy.”

“She’s not. Not really.” My gaze flicked over his shoulder to where the alluring redhead sat, swishing her wine. She was staring right at us.

“Are you sure about that?” Michael drew my attention back to him.

“Yes. She—”

“Shh. Not here.” I jumped a little as his two fingers hooked my chin, keeping my face up straight while he reached into his jacket and then passed whatever he’d grabbed to me. A small glass vial.

His eyes held mine, a silent order passing between us. Don’t look right now .

I slid the glass object between my breasts without breaking eye contact.

Searching his gaze was jarring. His eyes had always been dark and soft, burning with golden flecks. Now they were just—dark.

The person I was seeing was someone born anew. Colder, less boyish. What happened had changed him. Of course it had. It changed us all. The violence, the chaos—it wove itself deep into his being, altering him irrevocably from the inside out. He’d seen the battle from the perspective of the sky, after all.

A vision of him in a silver crown flashed in my mind.

He dropped his fingers from my chin and walked away without another word.

Battling the instinct to feel abandoned, I turned sharply to look out at the storm once more while my insides mimicked its chaos.

Moments later, I felt another presence. Venus appeared at my side. We didn’t exchange a look. “You okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but I’m leaving.”

“Me too. I was just heading back to my room to drink more wine and pull tarot cards with Cassi and B. Care to join?”

I grimaced. “Er, thanks, but I think I just want to go to bed.”

I went to turn and leave, but she grabbed my arm. “I’ll tell Cassi and B to beat it. It could be just us?”

My lips opened to decline, but I found myself pausing.

Her offer settled over me, and I didn’t understand why it sounded…preferable. Perhaps the idea of leaving alone, and going back to my room to be grilled by Destiny was just bleak in comparison. Yeah, that had to be it.

“Okay.”